Chris Hughton has admitted he faces his toughest task of the season to pick his players up from defeat at Nottingham Forest.

A shock 3-0 loss thanks to a controversial offside Britt Assombalonga goal, Ben Osborn strike and a late Zach Clough penalty meant the Seagulls slipped in the Championship promotion race.

It came four days after their 2-1 top-of-the-table clash defeat at home to Newcastle United, who went five points clear at the summit with their victory against third-placed Huddersfield yesterday.

Hughton agreed that due to the manner of the defeat, Albion now face a tough task of picking themselves up.

He said: "Yes probably. I think more so today than Newcastle, as I think that was a game that absolutely we didn't deserve to lose. I can't say that we particularly deserved to win today.

"We certainly had as many efforts as they did and got the ball into the final third a many times as they did, they just had the moments in the game that managed to turn it.

"There isn't an easy game and we came into this game knowing it was going to be a tough game as we have done every other game we have come into.

"The pressure is always there. It's a pressure you have to accept, it's about levels of performance and it is very difficult to keep levels of performance high for so long.

"When you do have those difficult periods, like at Nottingham when we are not at our best, you have to try and pull out a result. We have been able to do that, today we weren't, but we will have more games like this this season and we have to find a way of winning.